DEVELOPMENT OF POLYMER BASED AND RECOVERABLE FE-MNP DEMULSIFIERS TO ENHANCE THE OIL RECOVERY PROCESS FROM OIL IN WATER EMULSION

Abstract

The demulsification process has grown in significance due to the rapid development of oil and gas industries, which generate high amounts of oil, and the formation of different complicated emulsion types, a big challenge in the petroleum industry. Stable emulsions are commonly faced in oil generation and lead to a sequence of environmental and operational problems. Chemical demulsification was extensively applied to remove oil from water or vice versa (water from oil). The chemicals utilized in the demulsification method are very attractive to the oil/water (O/W) interface and could develop the demulsification mechanisms of oil in water (O/W) emulsions. This work proposes different demulsifiers for the Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) process from the O/W emulsion systems. First, this research aimed to study the efficiency of high and low molecular weight hyperbranched polyglycerol (HPG) polymers for oil recovery process. Results showed prepared polymers are environmentally friendly, biodegradable, and can recover up to 90.30% of oil from O/W emulsion. Second, the efficiency of Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticles (Fe-MNP), the effects of different process parameters, the re-usability of the synthesized Fe-MNP, and kinetic studies on the %ηdem are studied. Results showed the synthesized Fe-MNP achieved a %ηdem ≥ 95%, recovered up to 55.6% using a lower DMNP of 5 mg/L, and exhibited an excellent adsorption capacity of 51 mg/g. Third, an innovative magnetic demulsifier (MD) was prepared by grafting a silica layer onto the surface of the Fe3O4 MNPs. The MD showed an excellent %ηdem in the range of 93% to 94.3%. Fourth, a detailed evaluation of Fe3O4-SiO2 (Fe-Si-MNP) prepared with differing silica layer thicknesses (5 nm, 8 nm, 10 nm, and 15 nm) were tested for the %Soil. The Results showed that the Fe3O4-SiO2 (Fe-Si-MNPs) exhibited excellent %Soil, reliable stability, high magnetization values ranging between 46.1 to 80.2 emu/g, achieved oil separation efficiency of ~ 96.3%. Fifth, the functionalized Fe-Si-MNPs were coated with the HPG polymer to produce the PSiMNPs demulsifiers and tested for the %ηdem. Results illustrated that PSiMNPs dose (DPSiMNPs) of 100 mg/L achieved %ηdem of 99.4%, the PSiMNPs can be reused up to 15 cycles at a successful steady %ηdem of 89.1% with high qmax of 192.8 g/mg. Sixth, the effect of Fe3O4@SiO2 NPs as a novel nanocomposite on EOR from reservoirs is studied utilizing a two-dimensional glass micromodel. The results showed that the NPs achieved an oil recovery rate (%Roil) of 90.2%, while other nanofluids (seawater, Fe3O4, and SiO2) achieved lower values of 76.5%, 70.8%, and 55.3%, respectively. Seventh, the efficiency of three ILs, two halogenide ionic liquids (HIL-1, HIL-2) and one non-halogenide ionic liquid (Non-HIL) in the oil recovery process was assessed. The demulsification mechanism is based on ion exchange among ILs anions and the oil-surfactant. The efficiency was tested using tube and bottle tests. Bottle tests demonstrated that HILs-1, HILs-2, and Non-HILs achieved a D% of 97.7%, 88.2%, and 90% in 20 min, respectively. However, the efficiency of the Non-HILs was less than the HILs (~85.2%) using a low Vsur of 0.05 g/L.